Boutique beginnings in Madrid

According to Antonio Obrador, the designer, architect and mastermind behind Hot List favourite Cap Rocat in the Balearics, we no longer have to make the tough choice between five-star and boutique in Madrid: his new hotel, URSO, offers us both.

Located in the middle of the city, yet also cunningly away from the main tourist drags, the early 20th-century building appears impressively neo-classical and traditional from the outside, while harbouring modish interiors and artful restorations on the inside.

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'It is about incorporating products that better reflect the setting of the hotel without sacrificing on quality or personality,' Antonio says of his design vision, which manifests itself in sleek marble and honey-toned wood.

Set between the districts of Chamberi ('bourgeois'), Chueca ('trendy') and Tribunal ('up and coming'), URSO is handily close to lots of boutiques and art galleries, with the city's main shopping districts and the Prado and Thyssen museums just a short jaunt away.

Food lovers, meanwhile, may consider booking a Madrid weekend purely to sit at URSO's special TABLE dining event: from October 2014, six of Spain's best chefs - all with Michelin stars to their names - will fly to Madrid and take up residence at the hotel for a few weeks. Each will have the run of the kitchen, offering guests a sample of their award-winning fare.

As Pablo Carrington, the hotel's general manager, puts it (in his own evocatively physical way): 'Madrid is clearly on the rebound - and we plan on being a central part of the city's rebirth.'

About £160 a night for an Urso Double Room; From £454 a night for the Urso Terrace Suite, both with breakfast and based on two sharing. Urso Hotel & Spa, Mejía Lequerica 8, Madrid 28004 (+34 914 444 458) www.hotelurso.com